Today is my 41st wedding anniversary. I pondered what I should right about this journey we have been on the last two months. This past week we traveled down one of the most beautiful roads I have ever experienced. It was remote and wild and stunningly breathtaking. This has been quite a trip. Virginia and I have been in each other’s company around the clock. We live in 75 square feet of space not counting the great outdoors. One might think some alone time would be healthy. Virginia has been at my side for 41 years and neither of us has ever looked back.

I had a demanding career that took me away from home far too often. Even when I was home, I often wasn’t “home”. All too often, I couldn’t leave my work behind when I left the office. We recognized long ago, almost from the beginning, that it would take two incomes to survive. Either Virginia would have to find work or I would need to find additional income. Our choice was made for the benefit of our children. She would be a full-time mother, and I would attempt to find the resources to keep us going. Our formula wouldn’t work for everyone, but somehow we made it work for us.

I could have never done what I did, never followed my dreams, never accomplished anything worthwhile without Virginia’s support. Working the late hours, long weekends, stressful environments were all possible because Virginia made a home I could escape to. As I edit a lifetime of journals and print them decade by decade, it’s clear that Virginia is the glue, the mortar, the fabric, and the life behind all we did. Last week we traveled down 350 miles of remote roadway as part of this 7-10,000 mile longer road from Orem, UT through Alberta Canada, the Yukon, Alaska, and now British Columbia. But even the journey to Alaska is only a small fraction of the episodic experience of our lives.

Virginia is the love of my life; my soulmate, my very best friend, my everything. I can’t imagine how anyone could overlook my weaknesses, my mistakes, insensitivities, and lapses in judgment. These backroads of the north are riddled with potholes and frost heaves. It takes careful driving to navigate around. We’ve hit a few, and we hit some hard. We just look at one another, smile, and keep on heading down the road. That’s a lot like what life has been like in our marriage. There have been no shortage of potholes. We have not successfully dodged them all. Some were large enough to swallow the entire vehicle, but somehow we survived. And we survived each bump together.

We are currently in Prince George BC, soon to drop back into the lower 48. This trip isn’t over yet and we don’t plan to be home for another month. There is still much for us to do, just like our journey through life still holds many adventures. Give me the entire wilderness of Alaska, the vast open space of the Yukon, or simply the 75 square feet of living space in the Scamp; as long as Virginia is by my side, I will be the happiest, most blessed, and fulfilled of any man alive. This has been the journey of a lifetime—for it has been a lifetime in the making. I love you Virginia.